The last couple of days have been absolutely picture postcard as our beautiful coastline has shone in all its glory. Prior to this we experienced several days of unpleasant weather with associated rain squalls. Not much happened on the fishing front during this period. However in more recent times there’s been a bit more going on in the fishing stakes.
The reef fishing experienced a few days of solid fishing with an array of species on the go. In settling seas we saw the likes of coral trout, large mouth nannygai, Spanish mackerel, tea-leaf trevally, cod, moses perch, reef mangrove jack and sweetlip return to the docks. Dragon Lady Charters recorded solid numbers of fish and Skipper Steve said if we have calm conditions on our side the fishing has not disappointed us on most occasions. The current is running nicely from the south which makes anchoring so much easier and allows you to accurately pinpoint your fish schools. He said the action has been fairly consistent throughout the day and once a bite has slowed down, moving to a new location has seen the action fire back up. The best bite has occurred on the change of the tide but this can change from day to day on the reef.
In other news the small black marlin season appears to be way ahead of schedule with operations claiming numbers of juvenile billfish south on the wide grounds. Normally they don’t start their run until July and this is a real bonus for game operators at this time of year. Skippers are saying there is a good supply of bait holding in the area and average catch rates are around 4 fish per trip with plenty of other strikes on offer.
Unfortunately the bureau is painting a dicey forecast for the start of the Carnivale period this weekend with winds expected to be a consistent 25 knots with associate showers. It seems like it may be a good choice to give fishing the slip for a bit and join in the festivities that will be going on around the Port Douglas region.

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